Cranston Public Library

Moving from the Paleolithic age to the present, Karen Armstrong details the great lengths to which humankind has gone in order to experience a sacred reality. While noting that the changing face of the world has necessarily changed the importance of religion at both the societal and the individual level, she makes a powerful, convincing argument for drawing on the insights of the past in order to build a faith that speaks to the needs of our dangerously...

In this sweeping narrative that takes us from the Stone Age to the Information Age, Robert Wright unveils an astonishing discovery: there is a hidden pattern that the great monotheistic faiths have followed as they have evolved. Through the prisms of archaeology, theology, and evolutionary psychology, Wright's findings overturn basic assumptions about Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and are sure to cause controversy. He explains why spirituality...

"A fascinating history of dispensationalism and its influence on popular culture, politics, and religion In The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism, Daniel G. Hummel illuminates how dispensationalism, despite often being dismissed as a fringe apocalyptic movement, shaped Anglo-American evangelicalism and the larger American cultural imagination. Hummel locates dispensationalism's origin in the writings of the nineteenth-century Protestant John Nelson...

"An astonishing and revelatory history that re-presents God as he was originally envisioned by ancient worshippers--with a distinctly male body, and with superhuman powers, earthly passions, and a penchant for the fantastic and monstrous. The scholarship of theology and religion teaches us that the God of the Bible was without a body, only revealing himself in the Old Testament in words mysteriously uttered through his prophets, and in the New Testament...

Of all the demons, monsters, fiends, and ogres to preoccupy the western imagination in literature, art, and film, no figure has been more feared-or misunderstood-than Satan. But, how accurate are the popular images of Satan? How-and why-did this rather minor biblical character morph into the very embodiment of evil? T.J. Wray and Gregory Mobley guide readers on a journey to retrace Satan's biblical roots. Engaging and informative, The Birth of Satan...

From the Biblical tale of his fall to the incredible stories of those who believe they have crossed his path, go on a chilling journey through the long and legendary history of Satan. Scholars, historical experts, and theologians examine classic paintings, academic texts, and modern movies for an unprecedented look at the many ways Satan has been portrayed throughout the centuries.

In 1637, Anne Hutchinson, a forty-six-year-old midwife who was pregnant with her sixteenth child, stood before forty male judges of the Massachusetts General Court, charged with heresy and sedition. In a time when women could not vote, hold public office, or teach outside the home, the charismatic Hutchinson wielded remarkable political power. Her unconventional ideas had attracted a following of prominent citizens eager for social reform. Hutchinson

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A recent major archeological discovery in Jerusalem is revolutionizing understanding of Jesus and the earliest years of Christianity. The authors have examined a sealed tomb in Jerusalem, where they have found the earliest evidence for a belief in the resurrection of Jesus, based on what appears to be the oldest Christian iconography ever discovered.